New UN chief aims to make 2017 ‘a year for peace’

January 1, 2017 4:54 pm

By AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, United Nations, United States, Jan 1 – The new United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said Sunday he would like to make 2017 a year to “put peace first,” in a message heralding the new year and marking his first day as the world body’s chief.

The Portuguese former prime minister, 67, took over as UN Secretary-general from South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon, inheriting complex crises in Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, North Korea and elsewhere.

“How can we help the millions of people caught up in conflict, suffering massively in wars with no end in sight?” Guterres said.

The unanimous election of Guterres — who fought for migrants’ rights as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for a decade — has energized UN diplomats who see him as a skilled politician who may be able to overcome the divisions crippling the international organization.

“Peace must be our goal and our guide,” he said. “All that we strive for as a human family — dignity and hope, progress and prosperity — depends on peace.”

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